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Who are the “Heroes of CRISPR”? Public science communication on Wikipedia and the challenge of micro-notability

2024; SAGE Publishing; Volume: 33; Issue: 7 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1177/09636625241229923

1361-6609

Arno Simons, Wolfgang Kircheis, Marion Schmidt, Martin Potthast, Benno Stein,

Open Source Software Innovations

Wikipedia's influence in shaping public perceptions of science underscores the significance of scientists being recognized on the platform, as it can impact their careers. Although Wikipedia offers guidelines for determining when a scientist qualifies for their own article, it currently lacks guidance regarding whether a scientist should be acknowledged in articles related to the innovation processes to which they have contributed. To explore how Wikipedia addresses this issue of scientific "micro-notability," we introduce a digital method called Name Edit Analysis, enabling us to quantitatively and qualitatively trace mentions of scientists within Wikipedia's articles. We study two CRISPR-related Wikipedia articles and find dynamic negotiations of micro-notability as well as a surprising tension between Wikipedia's principle of safeguarding against self-promotion and the scholarly norm of "due credit." To reconcile this tension, we propose that Wikipedians and scientists collaborate to establish specific micro-notability guidelines that acknowledge scientific contributions while preventing excessive self-promotion.